


oh my god they were roommates

by purplesucculent



Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Angst, Fluff, M/M, happy ending duh, i just had a vision and it had to be done, the obligatory oh my god and they were roommates fic, this is based off like 7 prompts so do with that what you will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26939542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplesucculent/pseuds/purplesucculent
Summary: uuhh yeah they were roommates - joe and nicky are roommates (idiots) that pine over each other constantly and this is how they get together.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	oh my god they were roommates

**Author's Note:**

> once again, an au not one person asked for but i gave y'all anyway. i hope you enjoy! sorry it's a literal piece of trash on fire lmao - my gay ass just had thoughts that had to be written down - this is the result.

**JOE**

The problem was that Joe had fallen in love with Nicky - which wouldn’t have been that much of a problem had they not been roommates. Well, maybe that’s a lie, but it would have been way easier to ignore Nicky and his feelings if he just had some _space_ away from the man. He didn’t though, so pining as Nicky made them both bowls of cereal every morning it was.

Recently it had been tough for Joe as people at work were awful and his boss had piled a bunch of shit on him he really didn’t need right now. Plus, Nicky had been extra cute this morning as he’d made him his favourite cereal: half coco pops and half cookie crisp. (Yes, he knew he was a child, but he was also a devout sugar fiend and alas, he continues his questionable cereal combos to this day.) As he handed the bowl over to Joe their fingers brushed, and Joe actually nearly passed out, despite that not being anything new anyhow – they were best friends, of course they shared physical contact, but Joe was over dramatic and also behaved like a twelve year old schoolgirl with her first crush, of course he would’ve thought he was going to pass out. None of this Joe from pathetically pining as soon as Nicky moved away from him, too.

Today, like the professional he was, he had spent the majority of his time at work texting Nicky from underneath his desk, pressing smiles into his hand in a very, very poor attempt to cover them up from his co-workers. Nicky had noticed Joe had been feeling extra stressed out that week and had subsequently taken to sending him cute animal pictures and videos throughout the day. Joe was obligated to respond every time – it would be wrong not to.

That was the good part of his day anyway. The rest of it was spent stressing about finishing this design and discussing that one with Booker. Oh, and needless to say, he’d just about fucking had it with the rest of the assholes at work – someone had stolen his clearly labelled cheese salad, the fucking audacity. And on top of that, he’d been commissioned something he didn’t even know how to start because the client’s email had simply read: “Promote our company” – _seriously_? Booker had just laughed at his misfortunes, the way he often does in his own Booker way, and continued to drink from under his desk, not even attempting any work whatsoever. Joe was jealous – Booker at work was a man that clearly didn’t give a fuck, it was quite impressive.

But anyway, today, he’d arrived home and promptly collapsed faced down on their sofa. Nicky had heard him groaning in frustration as he left the bathroom, rubbing a towel in his hair, making him look even softer than he already was in his old, worn-out sweats and hoodie. _Fuuuuuuuck_. Wait- Was that _Joe’s_ hoodie? No. Not again. Sometimes their clothes got mixed up in the laundry and the other wouldn’t bother to give the item of clothing back – Joe for (creepy ? - yet to be decided) pining reasons and Nicky for reasons unknown to Joe, although he did suspect laziness, and hoped the smallest amount in his heart of hearts that it was for pining reasons.

Joe’s brain continued to whirl a mile a minute as Nicky dropped the towel on the edge of the sofa, sighing at the sight of him, and crouching in front of him.

“Scooch.” He said, pushing the Joe’s shoulders up off the sofa, and taking a seat where he had been slumped. As soon as he’d sat down, Joe flopped straight back down, face first in Nicky’s lap, clasping one of his knees in his hand. Nicky began to card his fingers through Joe’s hair – God, this kind, kind man.

“ _Allora, che successo_?” He asked softly, smiling down at Joe who had moved around to face him and was sulking a little bit until Nicky’s hand had fallen to trace his cheek. “ _What happened?”_ indeed, Joe thought (what the _fuck_ was that, Nicky my love?).

He took in a long and painful breath, then sighed out, closing his eyes momentarily.

“I’m just tired.” He said after a moment’s pause, eyes filling with unexpected tears. Sometimes shit just got too much for him, even if it was something as stupid as someone stealing his cheese salad – things just built up and got too much, got the best of him eventually. He just needed a moment to… process it all? Calm down? Sleep. Sleep was probably going to be the answer. Sleep and some greasy, artery clogging food.

“Come here.” Nicky said, bringing Joe’s arms around his waist, and holding him tighter. “I know, I know,” he continued as Joe drew in a staggered breath, now wetting the bottom of Nicky’s hoodie from his completely ugly, sniffling, whimpering, spit coming out of his mouth, snot he didn’t even know he had coming out of his nose, crying. Nicky leaned down and pressed his lips into Joe’s hair.

“You know somebody stole my cheese salad?” Joe’s voice came, muffled from being pressed into Nicky’s stomach. Nicky chuckled in response.

“Do you need me to kill them for you? That’s literally a war crime. I can’t believe they got away with it. I’m presuming Booker just laughed at you?”

Joe murmured out something incomprehensible and Nicky moved to press his lips on top of Joe’s head again.

They stayed sitting there for a few moments until he broke the silence with, “Love you, Joe. You know that?”

Joe did know that, but _Why do you have to do this to me, Nicky?_ , and so, he took in a couple more shuddery breaths before he replied.

“Yeah, Nico. Love you too.”

**NICKY**

Nicky figured that since he’d fallen in love with Joe, he would just do anything within his power to stay close to him, even if that meant Joe would never love him back. It – Nicky’s being in love with Joe – had started way before they’d lived together.

They’d all grown up with each other, Nicky, Joe and the gang, and gone to a particularly interesting international school somewhere in France, then a pretty normal university with each other just outside of London, where they’d met Nile – the whole shebang. Nicky recognised the exact moment he knew for sure that he was in love with Joe as one night they spent together during the university years. He’d been really upset, his grandmother had passed away and Joe, God, Joe, he’d been right there with him – as had the others, naturally, but Nicky wasn’t in love with them, now was he?

Nicky had never felt pain like that night as he melted and screamed and sobbed into Joe’s arms, feeling a loss which he wasn't sure why it had hurt so much in the first place. Joe had simply sat there with him until his sobs had mellowed out into sniffles, held him so tight and told him he loved him and that he was always going to be there for him, as were the others. That made him realise just how much he loved that man who was holding him.

The second time he knew he was in love with Joe was the time he had dropped ice cream on his shoes. Joe had not only offered him his own ice cream instead, but also the shoes off his very feet since Nicky’s had become an ice creamy mess whilst they were in the middle of town on a rainy day.

So, needless to say, Nicky knew entirely how fucked he was upon deciding he should live with Joe. It wasn’t their idea exactly, more Andy’s, however, when presented upon them neither of them could say no. In fact, they couldn’t believe they hadn’t been living together before.

Previously they’d sort of lived together. I mean, they were all in the same halls at university, only a few doors away and they’d always lived nearby to each other – never more than 15 minutes away. So, it just made sense to actually live together. Nicky argued it wasn’t weird, or rather an issue, that he lived with his best friend he’d been pining over for years because… well, because… Yeah, no, he didn’t actually have one for that. It was, in all of its essence, a bad idea because it could only really lead to an increased intensity of pining since Nicky was never going to bite the bullet and actually tell Joe. No way. He didn't want to lose everything he already had.

After living with each other after three years, they’d somehow grown even closer together – they, and nobody else really, couldn’t really believe that that was possible since their relationship before had barred that of one of the closest of all time. They’d grown so close in fact, Nicky often had people come up to him at work, when he’d brought in, to Joe say to him how lovely his husband was – he didn’t have the emotional capacity to deny it, so he let it slide because Joe was always out of earshot when this happened, so what he couldn’t hear wouldn’t hurt him, right? Quýnh and Nile always made fun of him for it afterwards and he hated them, really, he truly hated them.

It was a valid remark to be fair to the unsuspecting colleague who had mistaken Nicky’s pining for marriage: Nicky and Joe functioned very much like a married couple in their domestic life. The list of things that constituted to this was a rather staggering one: Nicky cooked for Joe, as did Joe for Nicky, after hard days of work, they’d forgotten most of who’s clothes were who’s as they just lumped everything into one big laundry basket before taking it to the laundrette together every Wednesday, and they often fell asleep slumped over each other or in each other’s embrace after watching shit reruns of awful 90s sitcoms or ancient slasher B movies on the TV most nights (seriously, Nicky was developing a back problem after the amount of time he’d spent slumped into Joe rather than on his own fucking memory foam mattress that he’d nearly gone bankrupt over buying).

So, naturally, after Joe had come home close to tears, Nicky had done for him what Joe had also done for him more times that he could remember, and just held him through it. Later that night, after ordering an obscene amount of curry from their favourite takeaway, Joe was beginning to fall asleep on Nicky’s shoulder (yet again) as TMC was playing something with someone who maybe, could have been Humphrey Bogart in it. (He wanted to say _Casablanca,_ but he was horrendously sleep deprived, so that would have been a dangerous guess...Perhaps... _The Maltese Falcon_? But who's to say?)

“Joe,” Nicky called gently, nudging him slightly, only to watch Joe snuggle into his shoulder further, “Let’s go to bed. I don’t want you to hurt your back again, okay?” (Joe’s back had also been developing a slight crick in it from the sofa.)

To which he got no response.

Nicky brought his hand up to hold the side of Joe’s head tenderly and pressed his forehead against his. “Joe,” He whispered, “you need to go to bed now.” He really was sleep deprived, huh? Nicky, Nico, Nicolò how could you think this was a good idea?

“Hmmmm?” Joe hummed out, drawing himself slightly out of his Nicky-induced slumber.

“Come on, _habibi_ , let’s go,” Nicky started and went to stand up, pulling Joe with him, who just sagged in his arms. “I know you’re awake. At least help me out a little bit.” He smiled at Joe, then he stopped to think - he really was sleep deprived if he thought calling Joe _habibi_ had been a good idea for his already wobbly emotional stability.

Joe huffed out a sigh and let Nicky walk him to bed, crossing their short living room and passing into Joe’s room. He collapsed on the bed only to have Nicky pull him up again.

“You can’t sleep on top of the covers; you’ll be cold.” He laughed, rubbing his thumb over Joe's palm.

“I’m always cold, anyway.” Joe slurred as he collapsed on top of his now cover-free bed, allowing Nicky to place them onto him afterwards.

Before he had the chance to walk away, Joe grabbed Nicky’s hand with both of his. “Please stay with me, Nico.” He almost pleaded, tears filling his eyes again before Nicky sighed, moving to lay down next to Joe and curling up in his arms.

**JOE**

Joe had woken up pressed against Nicky’s back with his head squished into his neck and his hand clasped with Nicky’s, too. Well, shit. How did he- He must had been really upset for Nicky to decide to sleep with him.

They’d shared a bed together before, obviously. There comes a time throughout decades of friendship where, eventually, you share a bed. However, whenever Joe and Nicky ended up sharing a bed, it was probably because at least one of them was having a breakdown of epic proportions.

There had been sleepovers when they were teenagers, sleeping closely next to each other, but still close enough to spring away if the others saw them, after having watched a horror movie they were definitely too young to see and needing to know the other was near in case fucking Freddy Kruger or something got them, I don’t know.

As there had been many nights in their twenties, stumbling home after nights out and crashing onto the same bed and just needing to be held because that week had just been too fucking much.

And now, more recently, they’d taken to not even going to bed and crashing on the sofa, giving themselves scoliosis because they just couldn’t face to leave the other. Joe had yet to decipher why Nicky didn’t just leave him on the couch to suffer and cripple his spine, but nevertheless he always stayed with Joe whenever they did end up being awake too late in front of their god-awful TV.

However, it was a rarity in which they shared a bed together, properly. This was mainly because they woke up cuddling which was quite hard to Joe to pass off as “Oh, there’s just no space here,” when he has an entire double bed. Plus he couldn’t look Nicky in the eye and lie because he’d just know, _okay?_ He couldn’t bring himself to tell Nicky he loved him, like, was in love with him but he also couldn’t really lie about it either, so he often just ended up freezing and having his brain completely forget how to function whenever anyone quizzed him on the subject.

He had done just that as Booker had harassed him one time after work, on their way to pick up some pizza.

“You know, you’re not as subtle as you think you are, Yusuf.”

“Dare I ask why, Book man?”

“You don’t have to keep making shit up to get out of talking to us if you just want to spend some time with Nicky, you know? We understand.”

Now, Joe was considerably baffled for a multitude of reasons. One, Booker had used his full name which was only reserved for people either telling him off or Nicky when he got really excited at something Joe had drawn. Two, “subtle”, what the fuck did he mean by that?

“Subtle? About what?”

Booker gave him a look as if he was being stupid.

“About you and Nicky.”

“Right… okay.” Luckily, they’d arrived at their pizza place, so Joe at least had the chance to digest whatever Booker had been trying to get at. “Subtle”? _“Subtle”_? What did he have to be subtle- oh? He couldn’t have meant- He could only have meant that- No.

“What do you mean about me and Nicky?” Joe was genuinely perplexed. To which Booker just smiled one of his “Don’t play fucking dumb with me,” smiles that Joe had become very acquainted with during his degree for reasons we don’t have to go into now.

“I get it, man. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, or if you’re not ready or anything.”

“What do you- You know what? I don’t care. Get me my fucking Pizza.”

Joe did not have the brain capacity to even begin to _think_ that Booker knows he’s in love with Nicky. No. No way. He’d get teased mercilessly, by not only him but Andy and Quynh and Nile and... Oh God, that was too much.

But oh no. Booker wasn’t finished yet.

“No, seriously, Joe, we’re here to support you and we’re really happy for you.” He said, looking Joe in the eye – was this twenty fucking questions? - Clearly not since Booker hadn’t actually asked any questions. Fuck, he knew. He knew he was in love with Nicky. That's the only possible thing he could be babbling on about.

“If you- I swear, Book. If you fucking make fun of-”

“Why would I make fun of you?”

“Don’t make me say it!” Joe all but pleaded with him, to which Booker rolled his eyes and muttered a _“I said we didn’t have to talk about it, Christ.”_

And that was the first and last time any of their friends had breached Joe about his hopeless infatuation with Nicky. Thank fuck – he couldn’t stomach another one. It would be way too embarrassing to have them know and on top of that then have Nicky reject him. Yikes.

Needless to say, Joe had found it quite overwhelming to wake up plastered against Nicky. At least he didn’t have work today and he could mentally recover from his betrayal at work as well as from his aching heart. Wow, he felt he was fourteen years old. Maybe thirteen.

He rubbed his thumb over Nicky’s and moved his face closer into the other’s neck, at least trying to relish in what they had now.

Nicky huffed out a- was that a pleased sounding sigh? Joe would take anything he could get at this point.

“Morning, Joe.” He murmured softly.

“Hi,” Joe returned, smiling so much you could hear it in his speech.

“Time is it?” Shit. Nicky had work today. Joe leant up slightly to look at the clock he had on his bedside table, just above Nicky’s head.

“It’s… eight thirty.”

“Shit. I gotta go… Ew, I’ve got to go to work.” Nicky groaned, rolling around to face Joe, smiling as he saw him in the morning light. He reached out a cupped Joe’s cheek with his hand, his smile softening. “See you later, Yusuf.”

And with that, he left the bed, pulling on a random hoodie on Joe’s bedroom floor before rushing off to put on his shoes. He really was that late. The man didn't brush his teeth or anything.

Joe stared at the ceiling. Nicky had taken one of his hoodies. Again. _Again!_ He… he didn’t think he could cope today. Not with the man he loved pulling shit like that. Had he even realised he’d taken Joe’s hoodie?

Just as he contemplated suffocating himself in order for his brain to stop shouting “Nicky! Nicky! Nicky!”, the man himself burst back through Joe’s bedroom door.

“I made some soup for you yesterday. It’s in the fridge if you want some. Oh! And I left out your bowl and cereals! See you later! _Ciao_!” Nicky said before running off and slamming the front door.

_This man. How will I cope?_

**NICKY**

Nicky was halfway to the café before he realised that he’d worn Joe’s hoodie and immediately upon this grand realisation, he moved the sleeve to his face and smiled. Nile was going to give him so much shit. Again.

He’d worn Joe’s clothes to work before, totally by accident, too: he was just bad at sorting out their laundry, and Nile had totally given him shit for it as she was one of the people privy to the knowledge of Nicky being in love with Joe. She, unlike some (Booker), also knew that Nicky was not dating Joe, despite how much he wanted to.

“Oh, no. Not again.” Nile rolled her eyes so far back into her head, Nicky thought that she was going to pass out, as he entered her café. He would have blushed or felt embarrassed, but he was caught up in his thoughts about how he and Joe had woken up together.

“It was by accident! I overslept!” He pleaded weakly, Nile gave him a _look_ whilst she frothed some milk for a waiting customer.

“Tell me you didn’t sleep on the couch again?” – Nile also knew about both Nicky and Joe’s oncoming back problems due to their inherent ability to sleep anywhere else other than the couch.

“I didn’t this time! I promise! I slept… in a bed.”

“A bed?”

“…Joe’s bed.”

“Joe’s bed?”

“Joe’s bed.”

There was a slight pause as Nile tried to calculate just how they’d spent the night. When she had, she raised an eyebrow in response as well as pouring the frothed milk into the customer’s reusable coffee flask. Nicky crumbled.

“He’d had a bad day. Assholes at work-”

“Booker?”

“Not Booker. Someone stole his salad too, he seemed very upset about that.” He said moving behind the counter to man the till. Nicky paused for a moment, concern covering his face as he remembered just how burnt out Joe had been last night. He was glad he had today off today to recuperate, at least. Nile reached out and put her hand on his forearm after having reeled off the _“Have a nice day!”_ spiel to the hopefully satisfied customer.

“Is he okay?” She said, her expression matching Nicky’s.

“Yeah, yeah, I think so. He said he’s just tired. Of many things, I’m guessing.”

Nile gave him another considering look, before sighing and taking his hand.

“You know… I think you should just tell him you love him. He must know you do already?”

Nicky’s eyebrows furrowed intensely as he looked distressed.

“You know I can’t do that, Nile. He-”

“He loves you back. Booker even thought you two were together a few months after you’d moved in.” Moving her head down to look him in the eye, Nile smiled gently before squeezing his hand as Nicky looked shocked yet gave a slight chuckle. “He really did. He even went and spoke to Joe about it.”

Nicky’s eyes bulged out of his head.

“No fucking way! Joe would’ve… I suppose he wouldn’t have told me actually.” He stopped to take a breath before asking, “What did Joe say to make him think that?”

“Well, I don't know but Booker continued to assume that you were together until I informed him of your intense yearnings about two months ago, so…”

Waving his hands free of Nile’s, Nicky moved to walk away.

“I need a moment.”

“Hey, Nicky-” He turned to look back at her as he moved towards the back door, “- you know that’s all the proof you need, right?”

Nicky couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He knew Booker was stupid but… maybe he had a point. He and Joe often did very domestic couple-y things in their lives.

What could Joe have said to make Booker think that they _were_ together? He didn’t want to get his hopes up but Nile was making sense and he never doubted her – why should this be any different?

Well… He supposed there was only one way to find out.

Suddenly, Nicky’s phone pinged with a new message. He had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with Nile.

**Andy**

You fucking idiot. He’s in love with you.

Thanks, Andy.

Well… there was more than one way of finding out. Andy usually knew everything about their group of friends. Her word was practically gospel.

Nicky smiled as he re-read her message and his mind began whirring with ways to tell Joe.

**JOE**

**Nico :)**

Hey Joe?

Yesss?

Are you feeling up to go out tonight?

Sure! Where to?

_Sorpresa!_

_Davvero?_

_Sì!_

A surprise? Really? He’d at least like to know where they were going.

Joe always looked forward to doing literally anything with Nicky, but he particularly enjoyed his spontaneous streak.

Occasionally, Nicky would come up with plans mere minutes before they were to be put in action. For example: He’d asked Joe if he’d like to go to Amsterdam for the weekend on a Friday night, then proceeded to say _“Great! The plane is in three hours! Andiamo!”_ And whilst this was mildly stressful for a multitude of obvious reasons, it never outweighed how much fun they had in the end.

That weekend in Amsterdam had been one of Joe’s favourite memories. He and Nicky had spent the weekend walking around the city, eating some good food, and watching the city lights from their hotel room’s window. It sounded a lot like a romantic getaway and that’s what Joe liked to refer to it as – he didn’t know if Nicky did, but at least he remembered it extremely fondly.

Joe was still lying in his bed and was in the exact same position since Nicky had left him that morning. Although, he had left his bed around noon to heat up some of the soup Nicky had made him, snacking on some of the cereal he’d left out too in order to make up for his lost breakfast. Anyway, he had decided it was time to get dressed, and possibly prepare a bag, too – you never know with Nicky, after all – so that he’d be ready when Nicky got back.

After he had gotten dressed, wearing his own clothes – though, that could have been Nicky’s sock, it’s hard to say – he went to sit on the sofa, flicking the TV on and drowning out his stress and anxiety with some brain-numbing game shows.

At five, Nicky burst through the door, throwing his bag on the floor and made his way over to Joe. He was practically bouncing, Joe noticed, as Nicky flopped down next to him, placing his feet in Joe’s lap.

“Are you ready to go?” Nicky asked, his hand placed on Joe’s forearm, a finger stroking up and down.

“Right now?” Joe replied, turning to face Nicky, leaning his head on the back of the sofa as he did so.

“Yes! We can’t be late!”

Joe let out a laugh.

“We’re not going to Amsterdam, again are we?”

“No, not this time,” He began, smirking playfully, “I thought it would be nice if we went to the cinema and got something to eat?”

 _Sounds a lot like a date_ , Joe’s brain helpfully provided him.

“That would be nice.” He replied instead, smiling softly.

After taking the short bus ride to the shopping centre, Nicky had grabbed Joe’s elbow, steering him towards the cinema.

“What are we seeing?” Joe asked, poking Nicky’s hand that was still clasping his elbow.

“I thought we could use a laugh, so… Rocky Horror?” Nicky ended with a slight question, turning to face Joe, looping his arm through Joe’s.

Joe moved his arm down Nicky’s so that he could hold his hand, lacing his finger through his love’s as he laughed and said, “That’s great! Let’s go get some snacks before we go in.”

Now, it’s a good job that Joe had seen _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ more times than he could remember because he couldn’t follow along at all. He was still holding Nicky’s hand across the armrests, reaching over with his other hand to grab some of the popcorn they’d bought. He kept glancing over at Nicky too, watching his profile as it lit up from the light from the big screen. Nicky had glanced back at him a couple of times too, catching him in the act and smoothing his thumb over Joe’s hand as he did so.

This was way too much to handle.

Joe had almost been unable to recover as Nicky sang along with the rest of the audience to the songs, especially as they’d sang, or rather screamed, _Time Warp_ at each other.

As the film drew to a close, the reprise of _Science Fiction/Double Feature_ beginning to play as the credits rolled, Joe leant his head over onto Nicky’s shoulder and sighed. Nicky pressed his head on top of Joe’s, turning to press his lips into Joe’s curls for a moment.

“I’m so…” Joe began, moving slightly to look up at Nicky, “Thank you, for bringing me out tonight. I just want you to know that I really appreciate you and I don’t know how I’d do it without you.”

Taking in a deep breath, Joe brought Nicky’s hand, still clasped in his, to his mouth and pressed a kiss there. “I’ve never met anyone as kind as you. You’re so kind, I don’t think this world quite deserves it…”

Nicky had brought his other hand up to hold the back of Joe’s and smiled at him encouragingly. This was his moment; he could do it. Nicky was the kindest man he knew, of course it couldn’t go badly even if he didn’t feel the same way – though Joe had begun to doubt the part of him that doubted whether Nicky reciprocated his feelings or not thanks to the entire evening, so he had decided – around about the time in the film where Frank N Furter turns everyone into a statue – he had to tell Nicky. He couldn’t sit and hold it in anymore. He needed to let him know just how much he loved him. A man of such kindness deserved to know just how good he was.

And so, he continued, “You make my days so much brighter, even if I don’t see you all day but I get to read a post-it you left me on the fridge or something. You always take care of me, even if you’re not feeling the best in yourself, for which I am always thankful. You make me feel like you’re the moon when I’m lost in darkness and the sun when I’m fucking freezing cold…I just need you to know that I love you. That I’m in love with you. I have been for years. Can I…?” Joe trailed off as he went to move his free hand to cup Nicky’s cheek, but not before the other nodded.

“I was actually going to tell you the same thing tonight. That's why I planned this trip,” He replied which elicited a laugh from an awe-stricken Joe, “I love you too. I’ve been in love with you since the second year of Uni.”

Joe groaned, moving his head forward so that it was touching Nicky’s.

“No way. Me too. What have we been doing? Wasting all this time?”

Nicky moved to place one of his hands on Joe’s cheek, titling his head up so that he could see his eyes. The look he gave him expressed everything they didn’t know how to put into words in that moment.

“Can I kiss you, Joe?”

“Of course.”

**NICKY**

Nicky had yet to take Joe for dinner and the night had already gone above and beyond what he could have hoped for, seriously, so he relished in the feel of holding Joe’s hand as they left the cinema together.

He and Joe kept catching each other’s glances as they walked along the high street, smiling every time they did so.

“So, where are you taking me?” Joe asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen between them.

“You know what?” Nicky began, laughter bubbling inside him, “I don’t know. I got too excited planning the cinema part that I didn’t even think about where we would eat.”

Joe stopped for a moment in the middle of the pavement, taking Nicky’s other hand in his.

“Why don’t we grab something to go? I just really want to fall asleep next to you again. Knowing I’ll get to wake up to you again…”

Nicky slid his hands around Joe’s waist, bringing his head forward to rest on his shoulder.

“That sounds perfect.” Nicky replied as Joe pressed a kiss into his ear.

**EPILOGUE**

**JOE**

It had been about a year since they’d gotten together, and still Joe had never tired of waking up with Nicky pressed along his front every morning. Every time he woke up, his face was pressed against Nicky’s neck, breathing his love in. This morning his arm was wrapped around the other’s chest, holding his hand and smoothing his thumb across his fingers. He’d woken up before Nicky for once and taken the chance to admire him as he slept.

Just as Joe had gone to press a kiss onto the shell of Nicky’s ear, he began to stir, waking up gently. He pulled Joe’s arm tighter around him and smiled, still keeping his eyes closed.

“Good morning, Nicky,” Joe whispered.

“Good morning, _habibi_ ,” Nicky croaked out, rolling around to press his face into his love’s shoulder and mouthing _I love you_ into his chest.

Yeah, Joe thought, all that pining was worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u u absolute legend if u read this far, kudos and comments literally repair all the emotional damage i have ever received, so obviously they are welcome :)


End file.
